DN, while I think it's great that you, Antonio, Nick and whoever else had great experience in personal growth through the seminars, I find it unsettling to hear that these experiences come out of a corporate LGAT model.
Spending focused time on many of the personal development areas you guys have touched on is great for any individual, small group or community. But when the avenue for this self development is driven by a corporate business model, in my opinion the link is disturbing between a company motivated by money and self promotion and it's leadership role for an individuals personal growth.

If you share your experiences and areas you've been growing in personally without any mention of the Choice Center then your sharing becomes about you, as soon as you mention the Choice Center it reads as being a promotion of their model and course. Their model, as Nick briefly touched on is "designed to be effective for a diverse group of people" which in itself shows a lack of ability to be concerned about the individual, as it must cater to the larger group and it's the individual experience we are talking about here.

I guess I'm mostly disheartened that we need to turn to this corporate model and in my opinion we are increasingly losing the ability to experience these areas of growth as freely in our current culture, which is unquestionably growing in the disconnect of personal experience with other individuals...

Finally, I also feel that you have been such a breath of fresh air with your efforts for connection with this community and I appreciate your track record and history of being open and accessible with the poker community... the flipside of this is your promotional words for Choice Center inherent in you sharing your personal experience carry a lot of weight and turn your own efforts here into a hell of a marketing campaign for them. Maybe you don't have a problem with that, and I know nothing personally abut them... I just wish there was a better way/model to be promoted... I just wish this was you telling us that you've made choices and grown in these ways which at the end of the day is good news...

"People can make up statistics to prove anything, 73% of people know that!" - Homer Simpson

threads and blogs attacking DN for his choice, though I noticed that no one posting seems to have participated in the program, so a few thoughts: just there. did it. pretty cool.
people need connections, it's why churches, bars, restaurants, fantasy leagues, gaming and a myriad of other social activities are popular.
Hmmm. maybe poker as well, no?
my experience was extremely positive, and of course i was looking out for the pitch, whether cult or shill; mlm or con.
the techniques at choice are standard for conditioning: group contact, experiential exercises, emotional dialogue, etc. but i think most of my group knew that going in.
so here's my take: is it a business. yup. is that ok. yup. DN happened to be there as a volunteer. yup. (thought for a moment he was one of old buds. Hello). i feel great about the experience. yup. i'm used to working 12 hour days. yup. it was easier than my regular work week. yup. we took breaks, ate meals and crammed a lot of experiences into the time we had. yup. vented, learned and bonded. yup. it's why i went there. yup.
so why all of the flack from the folks who haven't done it? can't answer that question. maybe nattering nabobs? who knows. i learned quite a bit in an environment that generally speaking does not exist in our normal, middle class worlds.
is it for everyone. what is?
is blowing $2600 at the tables or a bad beat better than spending some time with bright folks to learn about yourself. nope.
sometimes you need to vent, and learn about what makes you tick. for me great stuff.
finally, very sorry DN seems to caught this nonsense. he was there on his own time to encourage LV131, so heartfelt thanks. service is cool. 4444

Make that three final tables live, one bracelet, one SCOOP championship, one watch, over a million and a half in the bank and the WSOP hasn't started yet. Pretty easy to do the math here, his poker results are a good indicator of where he's at in his life right now, confident, disciplined and having a hell of a lot of fun... Does it really matter that it started when he hit the reset button at something called Choice Centre? Do any of us have to go try it? Does he really care if we do not approve? The answer to all those questions in my opinion is no.

Daniel has opinions, likes to share them, likes debate about them, that's why this site is here. I think it's cool to get an insight into someone who is at and has been at the top of the poker ranks for quite some time now...